Category Archives: Books

The Book Club members gather and refreshments start to flow. They serve a fruity Chardonnay, a Riesling and Merlot. They compare their Francis Coppola with cheaper Two Buck Chuck. They reminisce on younger days when people drank Cold Duck. Of course I can’t be certain, but to judge from how it looks, if they changed [...]

A lonely figure in the crowd, Concealed as if beneath a shroud, In open sight, yet seldom viewed, Exists in public solitude. Perhaps his soul is racked with care, With quiet angst and bleak despair. He finds this empty life grotesque, Devoid of meaning, Kafkaesque. And so he skulks in dull ennui, Good looking, yet [...]

If Shakespeare were alive today, He’d write for “Mad Men” or “Treme.” His moody Danish prince gone mad Would be some thug in “Breaking Bad.” His “Newsroom” scenes would surely please The fans of long soliloquies. He’d crank out “Cougar Town” for money. (Let’s face it, he was never funny!) Then students, centuries ahead, Would [...]

Imagine a quote from the brilliant Bob Dylan. His words would be cryptic, yet poignant and deep. What treasures of wisdom that dude would be spillin’. His thoughts would take wing and his logic would leap! Imagine he spoke of sublime inspiration With all his ineffable fancies and quirks. Imagine he gave you the perfect [...]

Mr. Sendak, Mr. Sendak, You’re indeed a breed apart, A cantankerous curmudgeon Since you let your rumpus start! You’re a man of depth and vision, Though a few have thought it wrong That you penned the tale of Mickey And portrayed him with a dong! In fifty years of wondrous works, You’ve never shied away [...]

“I Write Like” will identify Your literary voice, Comparing you to Stephen King Or Hemingway or Joyce. I dared to hope I’d be a Poe, A Hawthorne or a Clemens. At least a Philip Roth — but damn! It seems I write like Emmons! (For the record, I entered the next of my last entry, [...]

“I’ve forged a creation more lasting than bronze,” Said the poet whose odes had gone viral In the town on the Tiber when nothing was Cyber And writing was mostly papyral. But modern-day e-authors write in the Cloud, Where trillions of memes must compete, Where verses can claim half a second of fame And are [...]

The suits have read the latest book With insights quite far-ranging. It’s value-added, cutting-edge, They’d even say GAME-CHANGING! It leverages best practices, It benchmarks excellence. It champions global strategies And oh, how it incents! To read such gold is quite a perk. It’s what they do instead of work.

A bunch of phony hotshots have been praising Mr. Salinger. They say he was a genius with no literary challenger. But really they’re no better than those idiots who banned the book And other goddamn phonies who pretend to understand the book. But still it’s pointless anyway to make a major stink of it, Or [...]